It’s now official: the winners of the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) 2026 have impressed the international jury with their research projects. Following several days of intensive evaluation and discussions with the young scientists, the prizes for this year’s European competition for young scientists were awarded on Saturday in the Audimax of Kiel University (CAU).

The first prizes, each worth 7,000 euro, went to Nikoloz Tkebuchava (17) and Lizi Chachua (16), Georgia, ‘In Silico Analysis of Conservation and Structure of FAM163A and Its Potential Role in Cancer’; Kazimierz Jakub Chomicz (18), Poland, ‘Chicken McNugget problem in embedding dimension four’; Gurnoor Kaur (17), Canada, ‘Eigenpulse: Eliminating Demographic Bias in Pulse Oximetry and Remote Photoplethysmography from First Principles’; Tommaso Vaninetti (17), Abdoellah El Makkaoui (16) and Frida Tirari (16), Italien, ‘PlantLeaf - a system to detect and analyse plants' reactions to stress’.

Second prizes, each worth 5,000 euro, were awarded to Vincenz Sonderegger (19) and Adrian Müller (19), Austria, ‘woodberg.vbg’; Batuhan Türk (18), Türkiye, ‘Aerodynamic Analysis of an Electric Distributed Propulsion Surveillance Aircraft via Machine Learning and Quantum Methods’; Liam Desre (14), Canada, ‘ΛCDM+S: Evaluating a Thermodynamic Extension to Standard Cosmology’ as well as Jamila-Cate Tran (20), Germany, ‘Clinical effectiveness of SGLT2 inhibitors in non-diabetic kidney transplant patients- a real world data analysis’. The third prizes, each worth 3,500 euro, went to Mykhailo Bilous (15), Ukraine, ‘Biological Research and Artifical Intelligence in Phage Study: Biocontrol of Pathogens and models for Prediction of Phage-Host Interactions’; Kasun Arachchilage (18), Norway, ‘When Lake Sensors Measure Moving Water”; Stefan Kuyumdzhiev (19), Bulgaria, ‘Per-Axis Weight Deltas for Frequent Model Updates’, sowie Mikkel Lüscher (20), Switzerland, ‘AI-Driven Diagnostic Tool for Early Detection of Brain Tumors’. In addition, the jury awarded the Special Jury Award for Youth as well as numerous special prizes from European research organisations and other partners.

A total of 144 young researchers from 37 countries had presented their projects at EUCYS 2026 in Kiel. The 14- to 20-year-olds had previously qualified to take part via national science competitions. In Kiel, they presented their self-developed research projects – spanning ten scientific disciplines – to an international expert jury and answered their questions during several rounds of interviews.

Distinguished guests at the awards ceremony
The awards ceremony was attended by, amongst others, Karin Prien (Federal Minister for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth), Dr Silke Launert (Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space) and Guido Wendt (State Secretary for General Education and Vocational Training, Science, Research and Culture of the State of Schleswig-Holstein).

In addition to the European Commission’s main prizes, numerous other awards were presented. These included prizes from European research organisations as well as special prizes from regional and supra-regional partners. As a result, several of the young researchers honoured will have the opportunity to visit international research centres, take part in scientific events or further develop their projects in collaboration with other researchers.

Stefanie Altemark, EUCYS project manager and organiser of the event at the University of Kiel, draws a positive conclusion: “The quality and diversity of the projects were exceptional. The young researchers demonstrated their potential with great curiosity, creativity and impressive specialist knowledge. At the same time, EUCYS makes it clear that they are part of a large international scientific community.”

Alongside the competition, international exchange was also a central focus of the event in Kiel. Participants got to know young researchers from numerous countries, engaged in discussions with established scientists and gained insights into the region’s research landscape.

European competition for young scientists returns to Germany for the first time since 1993
Since 1989, the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) has brought together successful participants from national competitions for young scientists across Europe and beyond once a year. In Germany, young researchers qualify for the European competition through initiatives such as ‘Jugend forscht’, amongst others. Germany last hosted the EUCYS in 1993.

The 37th EUCYS took place from 22 to 27 September 2026 at Kiel University. The competition was organised by Kiel University in collaboration with the European Commission and the Stiftung Jugend forscht e. V. as part of the EU-funded project ‘Science Comes to Town’.

EUCYS as part of ‘Science Comes to Town’
The integration of EUCYS 2026 into ‘Science Comes to Town’ was a unique feature. This European initiative transforms Kiel – alongside Brest in France and Split in Croatia – into a hub for science throughout 2026. Through public events, exhibitions, citizen science activities, school programmes and cultural events, the project brings research together with different sections of society.

Kiel University coordinates this project, which is funded by the European Union, combining scientific excellence with science communication, education and social exchange. EUCYS fitted seamlessly into this concept: young people from across Europe and beyond were able to present their own research whilst experiencing how science connects people across institutional and national borders.

This connection was particularly evident on Friday 25 September: as part of the Science Day, the EUCYS exhibition was open to the public until late in the evening. This directly linked the international competition for young scientists with one of the region’s largest science events.

The successful bid for “Science Comes to Town” and EUCYS 2026 was coordinated by Kiel University and has brought two major European science events to Kiel. In doing so, Kiel University is not only strengthening its international profile but also forging new links between research, education and society.

Photos are available for download: https://www.uni-kiel.de/en/details/news/166-meet-the-winners-of-eucys-2026

Online Press Release: https://www.uni-kiel.de/en/details/news/166-meet-the-winners-of-eucys-2026